


Family

by NervousOtaku



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Fan Characters, Government Conspiracy, Lots of Short Time-Lapses, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, World Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-11-11 01:38:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 8,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11138640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NervousOtaku/pseuds/NervousOtaku
Summary: Several years ago, Captain Cori Yangshui lost everything.Now, she aims to find the people who did it and get answers why.They hurt her family. No one gets away with that.





	1. Quest Start

**Author's Note:**

> My brother hates fanfiction. But once he learned of how Overwatch is the one video game I want to play, but is too expensive, he designed Cori Yangshui for me and told me to go write something.  
> Check him out on DeviantArt as DrGravity. I'll try to add in the pictures he drew later!
> 
> EDIT: I think I added in the picture of Cori. I don't know if it worked or shows up. I'll try to get the gun added in eventually.

“Cori, please!” her mother yelled, tears welling up in her eyes. “You only just got out of physical therapy, you're in no condition to go traipsing about the world hunting for a phantom!”

“It was no phantom, Mother.” Cori replied grimly, cutting her hair into it's usual bob. “Someone attacked the _Sylvania_ , stole the cargo that guy was trying to get me to take on. I want to know what was so important that he refused to let me examine it, what was so important that the entire port was attacked.”

“Fine, so it was an act of terrorism! Darling, I won't let you go!”

She sighed, standing up. Locks of black hair fell from her shoulders and back as she shrugged off the jacket she'd been wearing. They joined the pool of clippings on the floor at her feet. One flesh, one metal.

The attack had happened several years ago now. Cori had been a ship-captain, like her father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. _Sylvania_ had been an old ship, but she had been sturdy, and took upgrades well. It had been Cori's life.

And there had been one rule Cori had on her ship that was always followed, never bent or tweaked. It had been for cargo and passengers— everything had to be seen and approved of by her or the crew. Otherwise it didn't come on the ship. Too many horror-stories of bombs, contraband, hidden crooks and the like.

That man had refused, though.

Cori had been in the middle of negotiating, telling the man that only she had to see, no one else. She could keep a secret. Then he could pay normal fare instead of the high price of his bribe, and the cargo could be put away. Otherwise he could find a different ship. She was positive that she had been getting through to him when the explosions started.

She didn't remember much about the attack itself. There was a lot of fire. A lot of smoke. A lot of yelling. She'd been knocked out, thrown to the docks. She was lucky she hadn't died, though she still bore scars. Her right leg had been utterly mangled when debris landed on it, shrapnel buried in her stomach, and only an amputation and surgery at the hospital had kept her from bleeding out.

All of the _Sylvania_ that had been salvaged was a single anchor, from one of the long-boats on her side.

Half the crew had been killed, another portion badly wounded. Almost all of the cargo they'd had was lost, and dozens of passengers died.

 _Sylvania_ wasn't the only one to be hit. Many other ships had suffered similarly.

Cori herself was lucky.

“You don't even know how to fight!” her mother wailed, drawing her out of her memories.

“Who said I would be fighting?” Cori asked, gathering up her things. She made sure to grab her father's pipe, and had already put her captain's uniform in her bag.

“You're becoming a vigilante! Of course you're going to fight!”

Cori turned her dark eyes towards her sobbing mother.

“Mama, I'll be fine. I learned to fight from Father and the crew. I won't look for trouble— just answers. Alright?” she said gently.

Her mother just looked mournfully at her, still hiccuping.

Sighing, Cori gathered the older woman up in a hug. “I'll write lots.” she promised, offering her mother her pinky. After a moment, she felt a tight squeeze on her little finger. “I know it's dangerous... I just have to do this. I have to know.”

“... Just... don't die. Don't be a hero if you don't have to be.” her mother pleaded, finally hugging her back.

“You said it yourself, Mama. I'm a vigilante, not a hero.” she smiled as she pulled away.

Before she made it out the door, Cori's mother had given her enough food to last for a month, and more money than the old woman really should have. Cori vowed to put it in her account and not touch it unless she genuinely needed it.

She'd been planning this for a while. She'd taken care of pretty much everything. There was an account set up for her money. She'd set aside a fair amount in her years working on the _Sylvania_ , plus everything her father had left her, and compensation for many things. While she wasn't rich, she had enough to get around. She was already fluent in the major languages thanks to her work, and had all of her papers in order.

But there was one last thing she needed to do before she left.

Before heading to the port, Cori headed for the home of her old first mate, an omnic named Bolt. Bolt had been on shore-leave the night of the attack, and had escaped any harm this way. He'd been the one to inform her of what had happened when she woke up in the hospital.

“Chief!” he greeted, rising smoothly from his workbench as she ducked into his shed.

“Hey there.” she replied. “Is she ready?”

Bolt nodded, gesturing to the bench.

Resting on the workspace was the anchor from the longboat. But it was no longer just an anchor. Cori had given it to Bolt when she made up her mind to do this, asking him to turn it into a weapon.

And he came through.

Cori ran her fingertips over the name still emblazoned on the metal, glad he'd left it untouched.

“It fires smoke bombs and small explosives. They're easy enough to make, so you can mail me whenever you need a new batch. The reload and firing-rates are rather slow, but you're strong enough I think you can use it as a melee weapon.” Bolt told her as she hefted the anchor up.

“... Yeah. I can work with this.” she nodded.

“Now... not that I oppose what you are doing, but I want to know why, Chief.”

Cori sighed a little.

“ _Sylvania_ wasn't just our ship. She wasn't just our jobs. She was our home. The people who worked her with me... they were family. And someone tore our home and family apart over a couple of crates. They ripped up innocent families too, and cost everyone something. That entire port was destroyed just to get to a couple of crates. What was in them? Why did that guy want us to not look? Who took them, and why? I want answers, Bolt. I want answers from them, _why did they hurt my family?_ ”


	2. First Answer

Well... this was it.

She had decided to start small, and see what she could find out about those crates. She had gone to every old member of her crew and spoken with them, writing down everything they remembered about that night. She'd gone to the company that did the salvage work, and had gotten permission to go through their files all the way back to that night to see if she could find anything about them. If, perhaps, the crates had been sunk, recovered, and then claimed by the people who blew up the port.

It had all led her, ultimately, here.

Standing outside of the building that man worked at.

Cori had gotten her hands on his name, workplace, and schedule. When she'd tried making an appointment, she found that Yun Tian would be unable to see her for the next five months.

And like hell was she waiting that long. The trail was already years cold, she had to work fast to reheat it.

So she stood outside his building, watching. Waiting.

His car was behind her, and it was obvious she was waiting for him at this point. She'd left her anchor at the place where she was staying, but was wearing her old uniform with the forget-me-nots and blue trim, puffing idly on her pipe.

She wanted to know everything he had to tell her.

Cori ignored the stares she was getting, watching the doors.

He got off work about two minutes ago.

He'd be here soon.

As the thought crossed her mind, the doors slid open. Cori straightened up, arms crossed over her chest as the man approached.

He paused upon noticing her, frowning a little. But then he continued, aiming to walk past her with a nod.

“Not so fast,” Cori said, grabbing his shoulder, “I want to talk to you.”

“I don't even know you, ma'am.”

“There were three crates. You didn't want anyone to look in them, despite that being the policy of the ship you were trying to hire. Before any form of agreement could be reached, there was an attack. Do you remember me now, Mr. Tian?”

He paled.

“I... I am not responsible for what happened to your boat...” he stammered.

“Agreed. But your crates caused a lot of people pain. I want to know what was so valuable that an entire port needed to be bombed. A lot of innocent people got caught up in that, Mr. Tian. I want to know why.” she replied, not letting his shoulder go.

He paled more, shaking his head.

“Mr. Tian. Your business is no business of mine. But if I want to find the people who hurt my crew— my family— I'm going to need your cooperation.”

The man was stock-still, tense under her hand. If he bolted, Cori was confident she could catch him, but she'd rather not cause a scene. She hoped he would see things her way.

“... We... we should talk in private. Would you... come to my home...?” he croaked after a minute.

“If this is any form of trick or trap, you will regret it.” Cori warned, making him nod furiously.

In reality, if it was either, she'd be helpless. She'd left the anchor with all her belongings. Her hand-to-hand was decent, but not perfect, and while she had a small knife on her, it wasn't exactly made for combat.

So hopefully her bluff worked.

She released him, letting him unlock the vehicle. He gestured to the passenger-side door. Cori waited for him to slide in before opening the door and getting in herself. She stayed quiet, watching him.

The drive was tense. He was sweating bullets, knuckles white. Cori tried to appear relaxed, but was afraid she was stiff too.

She wasn't sure when, but she wound up zoning out and getting lost in thought. Not the wisest course of action, but what was done was done.

“Here we are.” the man mumbled as he parked the car.

Cori nodded, getting out. “Nice place.” she commented, looking over the garden.

“Yes... um... my wife and children aren't here right now, but they should be back from her parents' this evening...”

“I don't expect to be here that long. I just want answers, not your life story.” she replied, following him inside the rather large house. She and her mother had lived well, but not like this. This was practically a mansion compared to their house.

He led her into a small study, gesturing vaguely towards a chair while he sat behind his desk. Cori didn't take her eyes off him as she sat. He was fidgeting a lot— understandable. She was a strong, able person, out of place in this city. Some would accuse her of holding a grudge, or of being crazy. Maybe she was a little crazy.

“What do you want to know...?” he asked as she pulled out her notebook and pen.

“For starters, those crates. What was in them. Where were they going. Why no one could see.”

He squirmed, paling even further.

“... It was Sun Wukong.”

Cori stared.

China's God AI. Sun Wukong.

“Impossible.” she said once that had processed.

“It's the truth! The UN... since Overwatch was disbanded, they couldn't quarantine them any more! So they were going to try moving one of them into an experimental containment, and asked me to do it, since I'm... well, I'm nobody!”

“The public would have known.”

“No! That's part of why they wanted someone who wasn't anyone to take care of moving it! They wanted to keep it under wraps, in case it didn't work!”

Cori paused, biting her lip before writing that down. Even if it wasn't true, it was all she had to go off of right now.

“Where were they planning to contain it? It had to be somewhere on my route, for you to be so insistent that Sylvania take them...” she asked, watching him.

“They told me to get it on a ship, bound to Central America, and that everything would be taken care of there. That's all I know, honest!” Mr. Tian pleaded.

“Not quite.”

Cori spread her notebook open and slid it across the desk towards him, along with the pen.

“What...”

“Everything you can remember about the UN people who contacted you. Names, numbers, email, everything. Even how much they were paying. Give me that and I'll be out of your hair.”


	3. New Questions

This would be _fun_.

Cori could feel the sarcasm oozing from her ears with that thought.

This whole thing just got a whole lot bigger if it involved a God AI and the UN. Why were they moving Sun Wukong? Why Sun Wukong? Where was it going? Did it have anything to do with the attack?

But this meant now she had to find a way to question someone from Sun Wukong's containment. See if she could find anything out. That would mean a guard, probably a high-ranking one. But how was she supposed to bribe them, let alone get close enough to? She doubted she could pull off the lost-and-sexy act they did in movies. She was too tough and boyish thanks to her line of work, not to mention that the metal right leg was probably an added turn-off.

Cori sighed, running a hand through her hair as she considered her notebook and the map.

Well, she'd have to go take a look, wouldn't she? Maybe get the lay of the land, find a way to sneak in or something. Get friendly with a rookie by posing as a backpacker and offering him homemade sweets in exchange for chitchat and directions.

... Like that would really work.

With a low groan, Cori pulled her laptop close. She should probably make a point of visiting all the God AIs. See if there were any clues as to what was going on. If these UN guys written down were still around, trying to contact them might help. Of course, doing either of those things was a good way to end up in jail, most likely. Accused of terrorism or something.

All the same, she started looking things up. Hopefully enough schill kids wrote papers on God AIs, the Petras Act, and mecha-terrorism that these searches wouldn't stand out to the internet police.

She'd heard about the Anubis AI in Egypt. While destroyed, it had somehow broken quarantine. Combining that with the escalation of events in Russia's personal omnic crisis, and the recent assassination of Mondatta, Cori was starting to draw some unpleasant conclusions.

It wouldn't be going too far to say that another worldwide omnic crisis was on the horizon.

If the UN had come to that same conclusion, then stepping up containment of the God AIs would make sense. If they had a leak, then perhaps the same people who had the omnic monk assassinated had tried to go after the exposed Sun Wukong AI. But who would try to deliberately plunge the world into chaos and bloodshed that way?

... The same people who took everything from her, apparently.


	4. Research

“... And what do you think about the situation in Russia? Worried it'll spill over at all?” Cori nodded, scribbling away in her notebook.

“Not particularly. Why? Has something happened?”

“Not that I'm aware of. Just something I'm asking.” Cori shrugged.

She was in the city of Sun Wukong's quarantine. But before she went out of city-limits to investigate, she had decided asking around might help. Outright asking was a red flag to anyone, so she'd left her uniform behind in favor of a hoodie and jeans today. Posing as a college student doing research for a paper, she took the roundabout way. Her ‘paper’ was on the effects of the omnic crisis on human-omnic relations, asking about current events and how the past made people react. Asking questions related to the topic, then moving on...

“So, you've heard about the Anubis AI in Egypt, right?” Cori asked, looking up at her current interviewee. The woman nodded. “How does that make you feel, living in a city directly next door to a God AI when it could break quarantine?”

“Well, I feel safe enough. That was just Egypt. It hasn't happened anywhere else, so it was probably just a fluke. And Sun Wukong is kept secure, there are always guards. My husband works at the facility.”

This wasn't the first person to say something along those lines. It made sense, in a way, to draw manpower from nearby. They were close and on-call in case of emergency.

“Really?” Cori asked, feigning surprise. “He must not be home often, then!”

“Well... it's for the safety of everyone, so I don't mind. But recently, shifts changed, and he could probably get a second job if he wanted to now.”

... Huh.

This was the first person to say that. Was it happening all over, or just to this woman's husband?

“Is that it?” the woman asked, tilting her head and drawing Cori from her thoughts.

“Just one last question.” she stammered.

“Yes?”

“What would you do if you were the UN and you needed to find a more efficient way to contain the God AIs? I hear some people are upset and want change in the quarantine methods, but no one seems to have a solution.”

“I honestly don't know. I suppose I would make a stronger facility farther away from people. But I think they're fine as they are now.” the woman replied.

“I see. Thank you very much!” Cori nodded, bowing.

“Good luck on your paper!” the woman waved, walking off.

Cori stayed on the bench, looking through her notebook.

A number of people knew or were related to workers at the Sun Wukong quarantine. They all said they felt safe, and that there were always guards. Very few people were concerned with Russia's omnic crisis, convinced that it would resolve itself soon. Some had been supporters of Mondatta, and were upset that the shooter hadn't been caught yet.

She'd have to actually go to the facility, wouldn't she?


	5. Arrangements

“Hi! My name is Cori Yangshui! I'm a journalism student, and I'm doing a study on the effects of the omnic crisis on human-omnic relations! I was wondering if I could maybe get an interview with someone?” she said as cheerfully as she could manage. It was almost a given that she'd be shot down—

“Really? Tomorrow? Yes, I'm in town. I can make that, yes. Thank you. I understand. Thank you again.”

... That should not have been that easy.

Cori sighed a little as she hung up.

For it to be that easy, _something_ had to be up. For example, the AI not being there, meaning laxer security.

Things were not looking good.

While it meant she had a trail to follow, Cori was actually upset that everything was adding up. It all painted an unsavory picture that she'd really rather not think about. Because if it was really that big, then she'd dived into water infested with more than sharks.

Looking over her notes and laptop, Cori rested her cheek in her palm, frowning.

If Sun Wukong was missing, then it was probably in terrorist hands. If it was the same terrorists that had assassinated Mondatta... no, even if it wasn't, that would plunge the world into chaos. The fragile peace between human and omnic would be shattered.

If it really was Sun Wukong, then why had the UN decided to move it? Proximity to Russia? Names in a hat? There had to be some reason. And where to? Where could they have been planning to take it?

It had to be somewhere along her old route. If nothing else, transport had been prepared along the route. The course was plotted out in red pen across the map. It started in Haikou, hopped over to the mainland, went to Japan, then Alaska, California, the Panama Canal, Brazil, Morocco, Italy, India, and back home to Haikou.

Sun Wukong had been heading for one of those destinations. Maybe to be transported elsewhere, or maybe to stay local. If she could learn where to, she could potentially go there, maybe find some answers.

Another sigh left her.

Best write her mother _now_ , before things started getting frantic...


	6. Primary Source

“So I invite you to ask all the questions you want. I may not be at liberty to answer some, but please ask whatever you want.”

This man wasn't Chinese. Mark Kingston. He oversaw the Sun Wukong containment. If the God AI really had been moved, there was a very good chance he would have been the one making sure it got to Mr. Tian.

It also meant he answered _directly_ to the UN. If he got suspicious, she'd be in trouble. She didn't know if she was subtle enough to ask the right questions and watch for reactions. On ordinary civilians, sure. And while she may have been powerful enough to scare a mediocre businessman, Mr. Kingston had a small army directly outside the office-door, plus he was bigger, and a trained soldier. A former ship-captain wouldn't pose much threat to him.

Even if she had the anchor with her, she didn't know if she'd be able to fend any of the guards off. She hadn't actually gotten a chance to use it yet.

Cori nodded, pulling out her notebook.

“Well, first, how long have you been in charge here? Just to establish some credibility in my paper.” she asked him.

“I was in charge when this place first opened up. Can't you tell from my silver?” he joked, running a hand through his hair.

Then it was him.

This could be bad...

Nodding, she wrote that down.

“How often do you get people trying to break in? With the recent rise in terrorist acts, it has to be more often than is comfortable.” she asked, looking up at him.

“Actually, it only happened a few times in the very beginning, mostly by omnics trying to restart the war. Overwatch put them down fast enough, though.” he replied easily.

... So why, then? If it was safe...

“On the subject of Overwatch, sir, has it become harder since they were disbanded? It's my understanding that Overwatch was the one that set up the quarantines.” she tried. Maybe that would yield something.

“Well, Miss Yangshui, it hasn't changed at all. The money funding us came from the UN back then, it still does now. And Overwatch themselves never really participated in the quarantines. Left it to us. Just as well, considering the whole fiasco that went down.”

Cori nodded. There had been a lot of stuff leading up to Overwatch's disbandment. She vaguely remembered things about blackmail, assassinations, and illegal covert operations.

But maybe there was an opening there...

“Actually, where are you getting your help from? A lot of the people I talked to that knew workers here mentioned shift-changes. Is it just a coincidence, and I somehow spoke to everyone on the same shift, or are you rearranging security?”

Mr. Kingston raised an eyebrow at her.

“Where'd this come from?” he asked calmly.

“Well, my paper is on the affects of mecha-terrorism, the omnic crisis, and other such events on society and the modern world. Russia's personal omnic crisis doesn't seem to be resolving, and Egypt had the breach in their quarantine. Some extremists are connecting these things and declaring another worldwide crisis to be imminent.”

If he saw through her lies... only one person had said anything about shift-changes, and she hadn't heard anyone else making any such connections... Please please please, fall for it...

“... To be perfectly honest, those extremists may be closer to the truth than you think. The UN is sending us more troops, more pros, and we have to make room.”

Which would make _perfect sense_.

But she had to be _sure_.

Cori paused, looking through a few of the pages she had filled up after writing that down.

“Do you think there's a better option for containment?” she blurted out after a minute.

“Such as?” he asked, raising that eyebrow again.

Crap, he was onto her...

She shrugged, trying to deflect.

“I'm sure there are better options. But Miss Yangshui, I think you should give the act up.

Why're you asking these questions?”

... Crap.

“... Was I that obvious...?” she mumbled, staring down at her notebook.

“Not in the beginning. You started sounding desperate, though.”

He held out his hand.

For a moment, Cori debated denying him. But that would only dig the hole deeper. The less trouble she got in, the less of a delay there would be in her search.

Sighing, she gave it up. She kept her head down, feeling his eyes on her as she sulking. Because she was grown-up enough to admit when she was being childish, and there was no other way to describe it. She was sulking.

The room was silent except for the hum of the air conditioning and the rustle of pages being turned.

“Interesting.”

That made her look up.

“You actually found Mr. Tian _before_ you came to us. And you spoke to the entire surviving crew of the ship he tried to hire except the captain. I presume he died as well?”

“You're looking at her.” she replied softly.

A third time, he raised an eyebrow.

“Captain Cori Yangshui, then?”

“Aye.”

It had been years since she said that. It felt good. Felt _natural_. At the same time, it felt wrong, being said on land rather than in the water. _Blasphemous_.

“I see... Well, Captain, I don't believe you to be a terrorist. I don't believe you to be the enemy. You're too bold and too obvious to be trying to sabotage anyone. You also don't seem to be trying to hurt anyone. Everything in your book here is perfectly legal as far as I'm concerned.”

... Good thing he didn't know that she'd sort of bullied Mr. Tian...

“But why are you bothering?”

She straightened up, looking him dead in the eye.

“I want answers. I lost part of my crew— part of my _family_. _Sylvania_ was home for us. And someone took that from us. We weren't the only ones. Innocents lost their lives that day, people who had nothing to do with either of us. So I want answers.”

“You mean you want to give the people who took Sun Wukong a piece of your mind.”

“If I find them.”

“... Captain, do you even know how to fight?” Mr. Kingston asked, handing her notebook back and standing up.

“It isn't perfect, but I know some basic hand-to-hand. I can handle a knife well enough to put most off the idea of messing with me...”

Now, did she sell Bolt out or keep it a secret?

She closed her eyes, sighing as the man paced slowly about the office.

“... and one of my crew made a gun for me, though I have yet to use it. Given that I have a ways to go before I find them, I intend to hone my skills so that I can fight properly.”

“Which crew-member?”

“I would like to leave my crew out of this. They've been through a lot for me, I'd rather not inconvenience them in their retirement.” she replied.

“Agreed. If you don't tell me who made the gun for you, I can't run background checks to make sure they're on our side.”

Cori jumped up, spinning around to glare fireballs at him.

“How dare you!” she hissed, bristling. “Bolt worked for my father, I trust him with my _life_!”

Mr. Kingston raised that eyebrow again.

Cori clapped her hands over her mouth.

“... You seem like a good woman, Miss Yangshui. I'd recommend settling down and having another family before you hurt yourself.”

“Impossible. Not in my blood.” she replied.

After a moment, Mr. Kingston sighed. He walked back to his desk and sat down. For the first time since she'd laid eyes on him, he seemed like an old man.

“... I want answers as well. We got in a lot of trouble when Sun Wukong was taken. The only reason we're not shut down is that we've been ordered to find it and take it back. To do so, I'm going to have to lay off a lot of good people. I've been trying to delay, but we'll need every ounce of funding possible to go into this search. I can't stall for much longer, especially with how few leads we've already turned up.”

Confused, Cori sat back down, studying him.

“So let me offer you a deal.”

Slowly, she nodded.

“You have a bit more freedom than we do. As military, we'd have to move covertly, slowly. The trail is already cold. As a civilian, fewer questions are asked when you travel. You can move faster, ask more questions, however marginally. If you search for Sun Wukong for me, and check in twice a month so that I know you're genuinely on our side, I can send along information and a small portion of our funds. You can stay anonymous for it all, and nothing will harm you via UN as long as you stay on our side. I'll take the fall for any damages and for Sun Wukong. When you find it, I'll even see to it that you and your entire surviving crew receive compensation for your work.”

Cori was silent, stunned.

“What do you say, Captain? If I let you go and leave you out of my reports, can I hire you to find our missing God AI for me?”


	7. Benefactor

She still couldn't believe it.

Every month, on the first and the fifteenth, Cori was to send a message to Mark Kingston's personal email with a progress report. When she found Sun Wukong, she was to call him immediately. In exchange for her work, he was paying her travel account a sliver of the funds from the UN. When the job was done, she and her crew would receive appropriate compensation for the work. Anything he heard, he'd pass along to her. He was even keeping an eye on her mother in case the people who took the AI tried anything.

Sheer dumb luck.

If it had been anyone else, Cori was positive she would already be on death row for terroristic intent or the like.

But she was willing to take sheer dumb luck.

He'd written some things down for her. Leads.

To start off, he'd pulled in a favor in Russia. She was going to be heading there, to meet with Katya Volskaya and discuss a not-released-to-public incident that happened recently.

Additionally, she had a short list of potential investigation points.

The Shimada clan of yakuza in Japan. Cori had met some of them once, long ago as a child on her father's ship. They'd been trying to threaten him into transporting cargo for them, but the sheer number of the crew had luckily scared them off. That was the first time ever that Cori could remember leaving port early. She could also swear that she'd seen something about them being taken down. But stealing a God AI could potentially be a good way to restart.

That was why an American gang called Deadlock was on the list. They'd been ripped apart by Overwatch years ago, but supposedly were starting to come back. Similarly, a Mexican gang of the same caliber, Los Muertos, was on the list. Both gangs were nasty weapons-dealers. Before Overwatch, Deadlock had been starting to go international. Los Muertos was apparently preparing to. A God AI would be a catch for either.

Numbani was on there. With everything that had been in the news, she wasn't surprised. Same went for Egypt.

Sweden was a bit of a surprise, until she heard why. Apparently a bastion had been sighted. It was unknown if it was simply a single, rogue machine, or the start of some corporation cranking them out. While it was vague and not much of a threat, Cori had urged him to add it to the list at his indecision. It was a lead, even if it turned out to be false.

Vishkar was something that she'd have to call for a favor when she wanted to investigate. Mr. Kingston had told her to email him when she was ready to tackle them, and he'd see what he could do to set her up.

And once she was done with Katya Volskaya, she would be heading to Panama. There she'd meet with agents who were supposed to be in charge of the experimental containment, and learn anything she could from them. This part wasn't at Mr. Kingston's suggestion, but Cori had been insistent. For all they knew, someone there knew something that they didn't.

Cori blew on her tea, looking over her map.

She had a plan of some sort and a sponsor.

Things were going far too well. The backlash would be incredibly painful, wouldn't it?


	8. Determination

Cori chewed on her lip, arms crossed over her chest as she bounced her knee anxiously.

She was in Russia, waiting to meet with the head of the Volskaya corporation. Mr. Kingston had set the appointment up for her and told her to just get straight to the point, telling the woman who she was, why she was there, and what she wanted. Since otherwise she'd be floundering, she had decided to just go with it. He was allowing her to do this, after all.

She was chewing on her lip still. If she didn't stop, she'd start bleeding.

She started chewing on her cheek instead.

It was a nervous habit. She really ought to stop, but it had started developing when she made her first attempt to quit smoking. Now she bounced between the pipe and a bloodied mouth. In all honesty, she preferred the pipe. It did a better job at soothing her, and it reminded her of her father.

His death hadn't been tragic, really. Not violent or brutal, or by unnatural causes. A simple heart-attack, thanks to a hereditary problem. Cori herself needed to watch her health because of it. She was low-risk now, thanks to being in her thirties and still relatively young, but that was no excuse for reckless behavior when it came to her health. Her smoking was already a problem, even if she was in the process of quitting.

“Miss Yangshui?”

She startled a bit, jolted from her thoughts. She looked up to the receptionist with wide eyes.

“She will see you now.” the woman nodded, waving her towards the office.

“Ah... Thank you.”

Standing up, she grabbed her coat and moved into the office. The first thing she noticed was that it was bigger than Mr. Kingston's. It was also neater, with a more modern feel.

The woman at the desk looked up as she came in.

“Miss Yangshui, I presume?”

“Yeah...”

“I don't actually remember scheduling an appointment with you.”

“No, my, uh, benefactor set it up.” she replied.

“Benefactor... A company of some sort, I presume? Based on your uniform.”

Cori looked at herself. She was wearing her old uniform again. It helped her feel that bit more professional that she needed...

“Aah. No. Mr. Mark Kingston, from the China quarantine for the God AI Sun Wukong.”

That made Mrs. Volskaya look up.

“I'm here to ask about the recent incident.” Cori said.

“... We should go.”

... It wasn't the first time she'd been asked to go somewhere private.

As Cori followed the woman from the room, she saw her telling the receptionist that something had come up and to cancel the rest of her day. She had to run a bit to catch up when the woman took off.

She was led to a car, and a rather nice one at that. Mrs. Volskaya got into the driver's seat and started the car as Cori got in. She had to rush to buckle up.

“Alright... We shouldn't be listened to here.”

“Listened to?” Cori echoed with a frown.

“Someone is watching me. Blackmailing me. If we talk anywhere else, we risk her hearing. So talk.”

“... Sun Wukong is missing.”

The brakes were slammed on. Cori promptly bashed her head against the dash and sat clutching her skull for a minute.

“I-I'm sorry... but what...?”

“... A few years ago... Sun Wukong was to be moved to an experimental containment that was supposed to be better than the quarantines... my ship, the _Sylvania_ , was the only one on the proper route that was available at the time. Before an agreement could be reached regarding the packages, which were a mystery to me at the time, there was an attack.”

“This... the one in Haikou...?” Mrs. Volskaya asked as she started driving again.

“Yes. I lost my leg that night. My ship. My crew. Sun Wukong was never recovered, and as soon as I got out of physical therapy, I started looking for answers. I visited the quarantine after learning what it was, and... have essentially been hired by Mr. Kingston to find Sun Wukong and the people who took it. We believe another omnic crisis is on the horizon. The one here in Russia, the assassination of Mondatta, the incident with Anubis in Egypt, and Sun Wukong all add up into a nasty picture.”

“But then... why haven't they used it yet?”

“I don't know. One of the many questions on my list.”

The woman shook her head.

“... It's possible... maybe the ones who attacked me are the same...”

“You were attacked?!” Cori demanded.

“There were only three. We never saw one of them, a sniper... but the other two made it inside, and wreaked havoc... one of them is the one that blackmailed me... but at the same time, she saved me...”

“How is she blackmailing you? I swear, I won't tell anyone, but it may be important.”

“I... I'd rather not.”

Cori sighed through her nose, but nodded. “The other two...?”

“The sniper we never saw. The other... it sounds crazy, but it looked like death itself. All black with a white mask. I was running at the time, so I couldn't make it out clearly, but there was no way that was a human face. And... it turned to smoke, to get in.”

“I've seen bigger fish.” Cori grunted as they took a tight turn, forcing her against the door.

It was outlandish, though. If the woman's life had been in danger, there was a possibility her mind had been playing tricks on her or the like.

“I already have a soldier looking for the one who blackmailed me. Aleksandra Zaryanova.” Mrs. Volskaya said.

“The weight-lifter?”

“Yes.”

“Well, it sounds like we're after a common enemy. You said there was a sniper. I know it's a stretch, but maybe all of these things are connected. If that sniper killed Mondatta, then these people could be behind a whole lot of violence. If they have Sun Wukong, that spells bad news for everyone. I'd rather avoid that outcome.” Cori said grimly, bracing herself against the dash and the door as they took another turn. “Out of curiosity, where are we going?”

“What do you intend to do?” Mrs. Volskaya asked, ignoring the question.

“The agreement between myself and Mr. Kingston is that I find Sun Wukong and call him so it can be recovered, then I go home and stop giving my mother gray hair.”

“You should've just stayed with her.”

“He said the same thing. But I'm known for being stubborn.” she replied.

Mrs. Volskaya sighed, shaking her head.

Cori continued, “I'll be going to Panama after this, to speak with someone about the containment, and see if they know anything we don't. Once I've done that, I have a short list of places and people to investigate. I'll be going around to each and seeing what I can find out.”

“What if you can't find it?”

“I will.”

“But—”

“I _will_.” Cori growled, tilting her head back in slight defiance.


	9. Naivety

"Miss Yangshui."

She paused, turning to look back at Mrs. Volskaya. The woman was standing in the door to her office, looking slightly hesitant.

"Yes?" she replied.

"You're new at this. It's obvious. Your intentions are worn on your sleeve. But that makes it easy to trust you. Use that to your advantage. Make people trust you. If you can't deceive them, make them love you."

Cori blinked, confused, but nodded slowly. This seemed to content the woman, who disappeared back into her office.

Slowly, Cori put on her coat and left.

She didn't entirely understand, but she knew that she'd just been given advice.

The one part she had understood to completion was that she was new at this. And that implied that the rest of it was to help remedy that. Now if she could decipher what exactly it meant. How exactly did being obvious make people trust her? If should've made her seem... easy. But that wasn't what Mrs. Volskaya had said.

Ugh. She'd have to think about it later. Right now, she wanted to get back to her hotel, call Mr. Kingston, write her mother, and have a smoke.


	10. Training

Cori couldn't help but shriek as she was thrown back. Her arms were wrenched up, over her head as she landed on the ground. The anchor slammed into the concrete with a loud bang. The reverberations rang up her arms, adding more to the pain in her spine and the ringing in her ears.

Everything hurt, she decided, letting go with a groan.

She was in the Panama experimental containment base. The superiors had been unable to tell her anything, but had offered to help her figure out the gun Bolt had made for her.

They'd made a quick range of sorts for her...

Well, with just one shot, Cori was wondering how much of the base would be left by the end of the day.

“This is going to take a while... Maybe you should call your omnic friend up for a new shipment of ammo.” one soldier grunted as she was pulled up.

“Those lips are movin', but I can't hear much...” Cori moaned, shaking her head as she got woozily to her feet. The world spun, and she automatically dropped down. Her hips sang in stinging, painful protest. “Sailors're s'posed t'be good at sea...”

A few of the soldiers laughed.

“Oh, quit yer gigglin' and stick my arms back in their sockets...” she gruffed, still shaking her head.

The on-site medic came over, and started helping make sure she was okay. Her arms were relocated, the scrapes all over disinfected, and she was given a quick check for a concussion. While her head appeared okay, it did appear that she had fractured three ribs.

“Your friend could have a future in military tech-design. This is a piece of work here.” someone grunted, hefting the anchor up. “Shit, it made a hole in the ground!”

“So how do I fire this thing _without_ killing myself every time?” Cori asked, getting to her feet.

“Well, one day you might be able to swing it around firing one-handed. But that's a long way off. For now, try holding it level with your hip, like this.” the instructor offered, showing her.  
Taking the anchor, Cori tried mimicking the stance.

“Adjust your hand. That there looks like a grip.”

“Like this?” she grunted.

The instructor nodded, and everyone backed up.

Cori took a deep breath and aimed for the crater of her last shot.

The hooks of the anchor almost took her head off, she stumbled a lot, and those ribs were most certainly broken now, along with what would be one hell of a sore hip in the morning, but she didn't die. The shot fell short of the mark, shaking the ground a little as it exploded.

“And he made all this in his _garage?_ ”

“Unless Bolt is part of something I never knew about, yes.” Cori grunted, setting the weapon down. “I need a break.”


	11. Foreshadowing

“More ammo?”

“Yeah! I've got an address in Panama for you to send them to! I need a few days before I make my next move. I, uh... yeah. I used her for the first time. I'm a bit banged up and I used all the ammo. She packs a wallop!”

Bolt's metallic laugh rang bizarrely over the phone line. “Banged up? The last time you were banged up, Chief, you had to get a prosthetic! Did my baby take off your arm or something?”

“Dislocated both of them. Twice. I've got five busted ribs and a monster of a bruise up and down my fleshy bits. Maybe something of a concussion.” she admitted, waving off the soldier offering her a meal. If she ate right now, she felt like she'd hurl.

The anchor was strong. The little range made for her was decimated.

“Right... Let me see...”

There was a stretch of silence and some mumbling.

“Bolt?”

“Yumi's here. She's getting ready for work.”

Oh. Right. Time-change. She was in Panama, not Haikou.

“Right. I think I can get you a case of shots within a week. What's the address?”

Cori told him, and then he asked something odd.

“Why would you think I'm at a military base, Bolt? I'm working outside the law, remember?”

“There was an incident there several months back, wasn't there?” he replied.

“That was a different place. That old UN place. Activity was seen there and an investigation launched. Besides, they wouldn't let me anywhere near there or any military base. I'm a civilian.”

“You're a vigilante, Chief. It's not uncommon for vigilantes to do things they aren't supposed to.”

“Well,” she sighed, trying to relax on the bed, “This one is going to try to remain lawful.”

“So why Panama?”

“I had a lead. Dead end. Took the opportunity and isolation to try out your baby. Kinda regretting it now.” she smiled, relaxing.

“I see. Well, that's not too worrying...”

“ _Oh_ , I get it.” Cori grinned, believing she understood the odd questions. “My mom came to you and rambled on into _every_ worst case scenario, didn't she?”

Bolt laughed again.

“Well, tell her I'm fine. I'm relaxing in pleasant tropics before going to Mexico to ask about piñatas.”

“Will do, Chief!”

“Thanks for the work.” Cori sighed before hanging up.

Alright. She may not have mastered the gun, but it was a weapon of approximation. She knew how to use it well enough not to kill herself, and would almost assuredly get practice with it in her travels. She'd have more ammo within a week, and could then head up to investigate Los Muertos, and from there to Deadlock. After that, she'd head to Hanamura, then go check in with Mr. Kingston. She'd visit her mother and Bolt while she was at it. From there, Numbani, Vishkar, Egypt, and Sweden.

Maybe there was no backlash to be had from this streak of good luck?


	12. Travel Plans

“Mexico?” Chuckie asked, tilting his head as he helped her check through all the ammo.

Chuckie was a young man, one of the soldiers on the base. He'd been assigned to help her while she recovered from using the gun.

“Yeah, to check out a big gang called Los Muertos. Weapons and drugs, mostly, but if they plan to go international, a God AI or anything related would be a huge catch. If nothing else, the underworld knows the underworld.” she nodded, pushing canisters into her hip-holsters and delicately packing the rest into the special bag made for them by some of Chuckie's friends.

“I've heard about Los Muertos. Didn't they raise a huge fuss over the LumériCo scandal?”

“I don't keep up to date on scandals.” Cori admitted.

“The president, Guillermo Portero, was in with Vishkar, apparently. Something like that. His emails got leaked all over the place and he had to step down.”

“Maybe I should add LumériCo to my list.” she hummed, zipping up her bag as Chuckie finished his.

“They are having difficulties. This was recent, but it might not be a bad idea.”

She nodded, chewing on her cheek.

“Well, in a day you'll be gone. But you should consider joining the military when you figure this whole thing out!” Chuckie grinned as he wiped the grime from his face.

Cori snorted lightly, shaking her head a bit.

“We'll see if I make it out alive, first.”


End file.
